Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) Receives $189.78 Average PT from Analysts

Shares of Woodward, Inc. (NASDAQ:WWD) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $190.11.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Woodward from $158.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 3rd. Barclays increased their price target on Woodward from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $160.00 price objective (down from $186.00) on shares of Woodward in a report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Woodward from $209.00 to $228.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Woodward from $197.00 to $193.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, January 8th.

Woodward Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ WWD opened at $183.66 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $175.74 and a 200 day simple moving average of $169.49. Woodward has a 52 week low of $133.56 and a 52 week high of $201.64. The stock has a market cap of $10.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.56, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.26, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a current ratio of 1.89.

Woodward (NASDAQ:WWD) last posted its earnings results on Monday, November 25th. The technology company reported $1.41 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.22 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $855.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $810.39 million. Woodward had a net margin of 11.22% and a return on equity of 17.13%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.33 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Woodward will post 6.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Woodward Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, December 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, November 21st were given a dividend of $0.25 per share. This represents a $1.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, November 21st. Woodward’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 16.64%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Woodward

In other Woodward news, COO Thomas G. Cromwell sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.85, for a total value of $1,818,500.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 11,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,093,275.35. The trade was a 46.49 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John D. Cohn sold 2,400 shares of Woodward stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $179.57, for a total transaction of $430,968.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 20,963 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,764,325.91. This trade represents a 10.27 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 60,313 shares of company stock valued at $10,752,072 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Woodward

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in Woodward by 4.8% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,421,483 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $415,309,000 after acquiring an additional 110,569 shares in the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Woodward by 2.6% during the 2nd quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 1,380,384 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $240,711,000 after purchasing an additional 34,946 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Woodward by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,278,502 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $219,321,000 after purchasing an additional 59,290 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Woodward by 135.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 992,189 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $170,170,000 after purchasing an additional 570,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its position in Woodward by 13.3% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 634,698 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $110,679,000 after buying an additional 74,734 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 81.18% of the company’s stock.

Woodward Company Profile

Woodward, Inc designs, manufactures, and services control solutions for the aerospace and industrial markets worldwide. The company operates in two segments, Aerospace and Industrial. The Aerospace segment provides fuel pumps, metering units, actuators, air valves, specialty valves, fuel nozzles, and thrust reverser actuation systems for turbine engines and nacelles, and flight deck controls, actuators, servocontrols, motors, and sensors for aircraft.